The care package arrived via Fedex on Saturday. By coincidence, I was sitting out in the driveway working on one of my other bikes so I had all my tools out and ready to go when the truck pulled up. I had fun unboxing everything and loved the note about the bike heading to a happy home in California J

Had no issues reassembling the bike. Everything was well packed and clear. Put on my new pedals, adjusted the preload on the headset and re-installed the stem and handlebars, measured the seat height, torqued it down and it was ready to roll. No adjustment needed on the derailleur and the brakes were nicely bled and set. The front rotor was a little bent and rubbing (probably because the front wheel sat on the outside of the box and may have leaned on something in transit), but some light bending pressure and everything was back true and ready for the driveway test.

I haven’t had a chance yet to take it out on a long ride, but I did do my “classic” 20 mile backyard loop on Sunday morning to see it in variable conditions – fast spin up on the road, a long chunky fireroad climb, a twisty singletrack descent, a techy singletrack climb and a final screaming road descent back home. The bike handled everything like a dream. I’m so pleased that all the planning and execution resulted in a bike that is exactly what I was looking for and fits like a glove right out the box. Thanks so much! I’m looking forward to a much longer “test ride” this weekend, and will let you know how it goes.